Michael Brenner: Lowering the Throne of America’s Delusion
The Afghan fiasco pales compared to the
multi-dimensional tragedy created by the Iraq invasion and occupation. The
scorecard:
- Hundreds of thousands dead, wounded, orphaned
- The fostering of sectarian blood-letting that institutionalizes the country’s political fragmentation.
- The massive destruction of economic infrastructure.
- The welding of ties between Shi’te majority governments in Iraq with Iran’s clerical regime
- Torture and abuse in dedicated camps that permanently blemished America’s cultivated image as the champion of human rights.
- The spawning of the Islamic state – conceived, organized and recruited in American prison camps – Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s Camp Bucca foremost.
- The resulting mayhem in Iraq and Syria with deleterious effects across the region.
- One effect: the flood of refugees into Europe that fueled the rise of far-right and neo-fascist movements across Europe – disrupting political life in friendly countries and undermining the EU.
- In Syria, prioritizing the overthrow of Assad’s regime over the fight against the al-Qaeda affiliates who led the insurrection (a failure that is probably a success for Syria, for America and for the region)...
Michael Brenner: Lowering the Throne of America’s Delusion
The U.S. will not face reality about its foreign policy disasters but rather retreats to fantasy worlds that exist only in its own imagination. When Pompey the Great made his triumphant return to Rome in 61 BCE from his stunning conquests in the East, a spectacular ceremony was planned. Pageantry on a grandiose scale was designed both to satisfy his outsized ego and to display superior status in his rivalry with Julius Caesar.
The centerpiece was to be a towering throne where a regally costumed Pompey would pass through a Victory arch installed for the occasion. A small problem arose, though, when a rehearsal showed that the throne was 4 feet taller than the height of the arch. That is an apt metaphor for the uneasy position in which Uncle Sam finds himself these days. He proudly pronounces his enduring greatness from every lectern and altar in the land and pledges to hold his standing as global Number One forever and ever. Yet, America constantly bumps its head against an unaccommodating reality.
Instead of downsizing
the monumental juggernaut or applying itself to a delicate raising of the arch,
or lowering of the throne, the U.S. makes repeated attempts to fit through in a
vain effort to bend the world to its mythology. Evocation of the concussion
protocol is in order – but nobody wants to admit that sobering truth.
U.S. engagements in the world over the past 20 years reveal a grim record of failed ventures. Most have been caused by unrealistic goals, blinkered views of the field of action, overweening pride, an ignorance of foreign places and their history, and an unseemly readiness to take complacent comfort in fantasy worlds that exist only in its own imagination. In short, American foreign policy has been misguided – badly and consistently misguided….
https://scheerpost.com/2022/01/05/lowering-the-throne-of-americas-delusion/
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